Famous paint works of India

​There is a Legend in India that Brahma taught a king how to bring back to life the dead son of a brahmin by executing a portrait of the deceased, which he endowed with life. Brahma as the creator is also associated with Vishvakarma, The divine architect and the presiding genius of art and crafts.

Cave and mural paintings
Mural paintings are large works executed on the wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A distinguish characteristic of Mural paintings is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.

Paintings in Ajanta:
There are 30 caves at Ajanta all excavated in the face of a semicircular rocks scarp. Their execution covers a period of about eight centuries. The earliest of them is probably out in the 2nd century B.C. and the latest is sometime in the 7th century A.D.

The subject matter of these paintings is almost exclusively Buddhist, excepting decorative patterns on the ceiling and the pillars They are mostly associated with The Jatakas, collection of stories, recording ,the previous births of the Lord Buddha. The composition of these paintings are large in extent but the majority of the figures are smaller than life size.

The background figures some what above those in the foreground. The effect is to make the figures stand out from the wall. The decorative designs include patterns and scrolls and figures of animals, flowers and trees.

Graceful figures or fantastic forms and mythical beings such as suparnas, garudas yakshas, gandharvas and apsaras have been freely used to fill space.

The painters of Ajanta had realised the true glory of Buddha,the story of whose life was employed here by them as a motif to explain The eternal pattern of human life.

The stories here are continuous and elaborate presenting The drama of Ancient India enacted in the palaces of The Kings and in The Hamlets of The common people equally engaged in the quest for the beautiful and spiritual values of life.

The contours of Ajanta figures are superb and reveals a keen perception of beauty and form. The earliest paintings at Ajanta are bin cave no1x and x of which The only surviving one is a group on the left wall of cave x.

The later paintings at Ajanta by far the largest part of which survives was done between the mid 6th and 7th century A.D. and are in cave no II and I.

They also illustrate the Jataka stories with great details and ornamental designs The scene of MahaJanaka- The future Buddha discusses the problem of the Kingdom with his mother, the queen who is shown in an extremely graceful pose and is surrounded by maids.

A few of them with fly whisks are seen standing behind The King in their discourse the prince probably is seeking his mother’s advice before beginning his march to reconquer his kingdom which has been usurped by his uncle.

The paintings of Bodhisatva padmapani from cave-I is one of the Master pieces of Ajanta paintings executed in the late 6th century A.D. In princely fashion he is wearing a crown adorned with sapphires, his long black hair falling gracefully.

This beautifully ornamented figure is more than life size and is shown stopping slightly and holding in his right hand a lotus flower. The way of holding the lotus and the gestures of the hand as shown is the greatest achievement of the Ajanta artists.

The representation of one of the memorable events of Buddhist life after enlightenment and which ranks among the best of the paintings at Ajanta , is in cavbe no. XVII [17] painted probably in circa 6th century A.D. This represent Buddhas visit to the door of Yashodara’s abode in the city of Kapilva while she herself has come out with her son Rahula to meet the great King.

The artist had drawn The figure of the of the Buddha on large scale apparently to indicate his spiritual greatness as compared with ordinary beings for instance the representation of yashodara and Rahula looks very small by comparison.

A beautiful depiction of a feminine beauty as conceived by an Ajanta artist is apparently recognized as Maya Devi ,the mother of Buddha whose beauty The artist wanted to delineate without restriction imposed by the incident of any story.Along these Buddhist paintings there are also a few Brahman figures of iconographic interest.

Indra, a Hindu divinity is depicted flying amid clouds together with celestial nymphs holdings musical instruments.
Indra ,is wearing a royal crown, pearl necklaces and in his girdle a sward and a dagger. The speed of his fight is suggested by the backward movement of pearl necklaces .This is from cave no. XVII[17] and belongs to circa 6th century A.D.

Besides these religious paintings there are decorative designs on ceilings and pillars of these cave temples. Unlike the epics and continuous Jataka paintings there are complete designs within their squares the whole flora and fauna in and around the artists world are faithfully portrayed but never do we find any repetition of form and colour.

An example of ceiling decoration is from cave no .XVII[17] and belongs to circa 6th century A.D. The pink Elephant is from the same decorative paintings and can be seen in detail.

Padmapani at Ajanta
Bagh Caves:
The paintings at Bagh caves in Madhya Pradesh represent only an extension of the Ajanta school and in variety of design, vigorous execution decorative quality seem to have ranked as high as those at Ajanta. They are more earthly and human than those of Ajanta ,cave IV locally known as Rang Mahal contains beautiful paintings on walls which like those of Ajanta , are relatics to Buddhist and Jataka stories. These paintings, though decayed and scanty, are regarded more secular in nature, as religious themes are depicted in the light of contemporary life style of the people.

Badami Caves
The earliest Brahmanical paintings so far known, are the fragments found in Badami caves, in cave no. III belonging to circa 6th century A.D. The so called siva and parvathi is found somewhat well preserved. Though the techniques follows that of Ajanta and Bagh, The modelling is much more sensitive in texture and expression and the outline soft and elastic.

The paintings of Ajanta, Bagh and Badami represents the classical tradition of North and the Deccan at its best sittanavasal and other centres of paintings show the extent of penetration in the south.

Armamalai and Sittanavasal
The classical tradition is seen in the South at Armamalai and Sittanavasal. The natural caves at Armamalai in Vellore district Tamil Nadu were made into Jain temples in around the 8th century A.D. Mud and unbaked brick structures, located within the cave were the resting place of Jain saints.

Beautiful colour paintings are seen on the cave roof and walls of the structure. These paintings depict the stories of Jainism and Astathik palakas [deities of eight corners] with their mounts. These resemble sittanavasal paintings... sittanavasal is located 16km north – west of Pudukottai town in Tamil Nadu.

It is famous for the rock cut caves and paintings in the Jain temples. These paintings according to some scholars, belong to the period of pallava king Mahendravaraman-I who excavated the temple, others ascribe them to the 9th century when the shrine renovated by the pandya ruler.

Ellora
The next series of wall paintings to survive are at Ellora a site of great importance and sanctity. A number of Hindu Buddhist and Jain temples were excavated between 8th and 10th century A.D. from The living rock.

The most impressive of the kailashnath temple is a free standing structure which is in fact a monolith there are several fragments of paintings on the ceiling of the different parts of this temples and on the walls of some associated Jaincave temple.

The composition of the paintings at Ellora is measured out in rectangular panels with thick borders. They have thus been conceived within the given limits of frames that hold the paintings. The space in the sense of Ajanta therefore does not exist at Ellora.

But the most important characteristic features Ellora paintings are the sharp twist of the head, painted angulabents of the arms, The concave curve of the close limbs, the sharp projected nose and the long drawn open eyes which can very well be considered as the medieval character of Indian paintings.

The flying figures from cave temple no. XXXII at Ellora belonging to mid ninth century A.D are beautiful examples of swift movement through clouds.

Lepakshi Temple
The last series of wall paintings in India are from Lepakshi temple near Hindpur belonging to 16th century A.D. The paintings are pressed within board friezes and illustrate Saivaite and Secular themes.

A scene with three standing women in spite of their well built forms and contours has in this style become somewhat stiff. The figures are shown in profile rather in an unusual fashion, specially the treatment of the faces where the second eye is drawn projecting horizontal in space.

The Boar Hunt from the same temple is also an example of two dimensional paintings which almost becomes characteristic of late Medieval paintings either on wall or on palm leaf or paper.

Tanjaore
The most important wall paintings in south India are from Tanjore, Tamil Nadu. The Dancing figures from Raja Rajeshwara temples of Tanjore belonging to early 11th century A.D are beautiful example of medieval paintings.

The wide open eyes of all the figures are a clear negation of Ajanta tradition of half closed drooping eyes. But the figures are no less sensitive than the Ajanta figures , they are full of movement and throbbing with vitality.

Another example of dancing girl from Brihadiswara temple of Tanjore belonging to the same period is a Unique representation of switt movement and twisted form.

By:Balalatha Mallavarapu

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